Doubts Cast On Juvenile Crime Law

When the legislature approved big changes last week in the way Illinois handles juvenile crime, the action was aimed at preventing cases like that of 11-year-old Robert "Yummy" Sandifer.

In August, Sandifer, a state ward, was on a list awaiting placement in an out-of-state center for delinquent youths when he allegedly shot a 14-year-old girl to death on Chicago's South Side.

Three days later, Sandifer was gunned down, allegedly by members of his own gang. Older gang members were upset about media and police attention that the earlier killing had generated, authorities say.

The new laws approved by the General Assembly allow the state to start locking up delinquents at age 10, rather than 13, for longer than the current maximum of 30 days.

In addition, the new laws let the state put young offenders in locked facilities in Illinois. Current state law forces officials to place children out of state, often after long waits, because locked facilities aren't allowed here.

But questions remain about whether the state can move as quickly to establish locked facilities as lawmakers did when they created the law. Also, the debate continues over whether the new facilities, which some critics mockingly refer to as "kiddie prisons," will help or harm troubled children.

"The potential dangers are twofold," said Ben Wolf, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who joined other juvenile experts in a failed request that lawmakers delay acting on the new crime bill until next year.

"The first is that too many children will get caught up in this very restrictive approach," Wolf said. "And the second is that children who do get placed there will wind up staying longer than necessary."

Ron Davidson, director of the department of psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said: "What we have up to this point is a fantasy that doesn't exist yet. From what I've been able to determine, this whole process has been driven by the lawyers and the bean counters and not the (child-care) professionals."

But at least part of the state plan is already set.

By the end of June, the Illinois Department of Corrections plans to house 15 to 20 youngsters at a still undetermined site. An additional 60 children are expected to be housed at privately run residential treatment centers that will be licensed by the Corrections Department.

Within two years, officials hope that as many as 300 children can be living in such facilities, including the 247 wards of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services now in out-of-state facilities for delinquents at a cost of about $200 a day.

"When you send them out of state, you just don't pay as much attention to them," DCFS director Jess McDonald said. DCFS currently spends about $50 million annually for more than 700 youths who are in out-of-state centers, not only for delinquent youths but also for mentally ill and developmentally disabled children.

The sites of the new Illinois facilities are anybody's guess, although most are expected to be in the Chicago area because that is where most DCFS wards live.

Possible sites mentioned by lawmakers included the Chester Mental Health Center in southern Illinois, where a special unit would be operated by the Corrections Department to handle some of the most violent youth. Another possible site is Maryville Academy in Des Plaines, a highly respected unlocked residential facility for youngsters.

But before any sites are selected, the Corrections Department will need to establish regulations and operating standards. McDonald estimated that the process could be completed within 45 days if officials use other state models.

The proposed regulations and standards then must be considered by the legislature's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. In this process, they are published by the state and would be subject to public hearings.

Hearings will be welcomed by critics who contend that the legislature should have given more thought to the measure before approving it.

Once that's done, officials believe, it won't take long for groups seeking to run locked centers to be licensed.

"Once they (private providers) know the standards, they'll do it like that," McDonald said, snapping his fingers.

In fact, a day after the legislature approved the bill, DCFS already was hearing from interested providers.

Like child-welfare experts, however, many private child-care providers also are looking for assurances that the facilities will be more than warehouses for children.

"What we wanted to see in the bill was some language about treatment," said Ralph Burlingham, executive director of Ada S. McKinley Community Services. "But all the bill talks about is confinement-locks and bolts. But what do you do when you get the kid behind bars and bolt the doors?